


Healing in the Stillness of Our Hearts

by CalyaTavar



Category: Kingsman (Movies)
Genre: Angst, Fix-It, Fluff, Kingsman has secrets, M/M, Post-Kingsman: The Golden Circle, Spoilers, kind of
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-09-26
Updated: 2017-10-07
Packaged: 2019-01-05 13:11:17
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 14,860
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12190608
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CalyaTavar/pseuds/CalyaTavar
Summary: Eggsy Unwin trusts Harry Hart more than he can ever express, but there are secrets he must keep and creating something new takes time.Alternatively: In the aftermath of Poppy's destruction of Kingsman, Harry and Eggsy make plans to rebuild from the ashes and start healing. Yet not even Harry Hart knows everything about Kingsman, and Eggsy Unwin struggles between trust and duty.





	1. Trust

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Harry and Eggsy trust each other enough to rebuild Kingsman and a life together, but Eggsy has secrets that he must keep at all costs.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Inspired by a headcannon I’ve had for a long time of there being a secret position of Mordred in Kingsman, the scene of Eggsy and Merlin standing in the ruins of the tailor shop, and a need to resolve certain things in the Golden Circle. Obviously, spoilers and I own nothing, plus all mistakes are my very own. Cheers!
> 
> *Edits made to the first chapter, mostly spelling or grammar syntax, and a couple sentences got rearranged, but it really shouldn't impact reading experience that much. See either the end of chapter one or the beginning of chapter two for more details.*

Of course Eggsy had questioned Whiskey's intentions; he had seen that hard glint in his eyes and the twitch in his jaw that suggested he was compromised as they made their way up in the cable car, had seen that his expression was just a little too intent when the older agent reached for the vial before Harry’s knock saved Eggsy from making an excuse to keep the antidote to himself. Eggsy had spent most of his life reading people who had gotten good at lying, even to themselves. His mum, telling him that she was fine despite the haunted look in her eyes. Dean, who could fix up the flat with a smile and then fix up Eggsy with bruises. Kingsman in general, who withheld vital information until the point it was needed just so it couldn't be tortured out of them. The people he worked with, who told themselves that they weren't lonely and longing. Eggsy saw all of it, so it wasn't exactly a surprise to him that Whiskey was gearing up to cross them. That Harry had been able to detect that as well spoke to his skill as an agent, even with one eye missing and apparently hallucinating about butterflies. The gunshot was a relief, but Eggsy screamed; he needed to maintain cover as someone suitably horrified that his mentor had opened fire on a friendly agent.

So Eggsy got worked up at Harry for shooting Whiskey in their makeshift shelter and he dutifully applied the Alpha gel technology Statesmen had developed for headshots, knowing full well it would probably come back to bite him later. He pretended to be reluctant as he lied to Merlin and Ginger about Whiskey being shot in the crossfire, and Harry gave a tiny nod of thanks, though Eggsy treated him to pointed silence. The younger Galahad was doing his job, because Harry needed someone to believe in him and it wasn't going to be any of the Statesmen - fucking wankers for keeping Harry in a padded cell even if they did save his life - and Merlin had seen enough in his life that he expected the worst even if he hoped for the best.  Eggsy Unwin believed in Harry Hart, faithfully, just as Harry had believed in him. As the younger Galahad, too, he trusted the senior Galahad’s instincts to look beyond their current situation, to have that sense of danger and betrayal honed to a fine edge, and as agents they trusted each other to complete the mission and get out alive.

Mordred didn't have the luxury.

Mordred had nearly killed Merlin in the rubble of the Savile Row shop, before he went through the catalogue of Merlin’s comings and goings, his regard for the rules, and the explanation he gave for the destruction of Kingsman agents. Merlin - real name Hamish MacDougall - had shown no previous inclination to cross Kingsman, but Mordred by necessity had no true friends.

Even with only three surviving members, plus the remaining staff who had been lucky enough not to have their addresses in the database when it was hacked, Mordred still lived and lurked in the back of Eggsy’s mind. Even now, his training had him scanning the Statesmen's faces, taking in their ticks, analyzing their weaknesses, monitoring when they entered and left the room. It was habit now, just as it had been habit when he knew Kay was planning on selling weapons to a radical deep-ecologist group in California, and how he knew that Bedivere had given information over to several important businessmen letting them know to sell their stocks before news broke of an upset in Japan’s economy, and how he knew that several agents, himself and Lancelot included, had relationships which were all against policy and which they all kept secret.

He had thought it was a joke, the night Percival cornered him while he was out at the shops which were just starting to clean up after V-day. The older agent brought him to a safehouse to explain his new title. Long before he was officially knighted as Galahad, Percival had made him Mordred, conferring on him the responsibility of making sure that the agency was never betrayed.

"It's a title you've already managed to live up to," Percival remarked, deadpan, as he pressed Eggsy's hand to a wall panel, syncing the security so that he also had access.

"The fuck are you on about, bruv?" Eggsy had asked at the time, too tired to deal with cryptic shite when all he wanted to do was sleep a week and ignore the hole in his heart where Harry Hart had lived.

Percival had told him then, about the history of the Camlann Protocols and Mordred and Morgana, how they existed as a failsafe for Kingsman. There were two agents with Mordred status who monitored the rest of the Kingsman agents and the administration, and also twin Morganas, who monitored Merlin, the technical staff, and the research teams. The positions were handed down in secret, from Mordred to Mordred and Morgana to Morgana. Eggsy learned that the unfortunate accidents that happened out in the field to agents over the years were sometimes orchestrated on the part of Mordred before a betrayal struck.

"I eliminated Tristan that way, and Gawain, the previous Mordred who I found shot in a warehouse today, had taken out the previous Percival for disloyalty."

Turned out, Gawain had amassed a lot of information over the years about every member of Kingsman, and had been about to force a regime change when Chester King found out and had him shot two days before V-day. Despite that, the then 62 year old agent had managed to send all the new information to Percival and had taken out the people Arthur had sent to kill him, though he died in doing so. Percival explained that he was promoting Eggsy to Mordred, and that he would do everything in his power to assure an easy transition from candidate to regular Kingsman agent as well.

"How do I know you ain't lying to me as well then? Getting me on your side and tricking me into betrayin' Kingsman?" Eggsy asked after Percival had finally finished speaking.

"See, you're a natural already," Percival had said with a small smile, something light and approving in his eyes even with the events of V-day and the exhaustion of the aftermath.

Eggsy hadn't been a Kingsman, either named as Galahad or unnamed as Mordred, for an especially long time, but he had already tracked down two rogue agents with Percival, and spent the rest of his time constantly on guard beside. He might not be familiar with the Statesmen, but Whiskey gave off the same signals that Berel did before he shot Eggsy in the shoulder and sided with a powerful and crazy heiress-turned-arms dealer. Percival had thankfully also been keeping note, and they managed to stop Berel’s attempt to bring down Kingsman via chemical attack with a bullet to his head. It was kept secret even from Merlin's all-seeing eye, mostly because Percival had obtained equipment over the years by claiming it had been destroyed and the fact that he had his own server and tech that were entirely separate from their headquarters.

Eggsy was the sole surviving Mordred now that Percival was buried in a pile of concrete and ash, and as Mordred his job was to protect Kingsman above all else, from Statesmen, from Merlin, even from Harry Hart if need be. Percival’s message, passed down from the very first Mordred, rang true.

_ You are the sword and the flame, you wield the blade of justice and the light of truth. If needed you will call for Camlann, cut clean and cauterize, and Kingsman will heal anew. _

\---

They saved the day, he and Harry, but the rest of Kingsman had still been turned to dust and Eggsy couldn't get that fucking John Denver song out of his head, and mostly he just wanted to cry. Eggsy thought that he was too soft-hearted to be Mordred, too soft-hearted to be Galahad too, sometimes. He looked at Harry, who had finally fallen asleep on the airplane, his hair disheveled and the regular eyepatch back in place, and wondered if his duties as Mordred called for him to eliminate the last of Kingsman once and for all. He could probably kill both of them in one shot, pressed close to Harry like he did in those dreams he tried to keep secret even from himself, a twitch of a finger uniting them in death as their blood pooled on the bed.

The thought was as fleeting as a gunshot. Eggsy wouldn't shoot Harry, and he doubted even his objective as Mordred could ever make him do so. Besides, Statesman knew about them now, and as wary as he was of this fragile alliance, he was also eager to create something from the ruins of the Savile Row shop. He could build something with Harry at his side, and they could come back from this, together.

He retreated into another section of the plane, calling first his mother and Daisy, and then his friend Liam. He didn’t talk to them for very long, just made sure that everyone was safe and assured them that he would be home soon. Then he sighed and dialed Tilde, who finally picked up the phone this time. She was mercifully cured of the disease.

"Hey Tilde," Eggsy said quietly so as not to disturb Harry.

"Eggsy, babe, are you okay?" Tilde asked, taking in the bags under his eyes and his expression, and he tried to tell her that everything was fine, but he couldn’t manage the words. Eggsy wanted to remove that look of fraught concern on her face; Galahad and Mordred both wanted to keep their secrets.

"Harry's alive," he said instead, the words lurching out of his mouth even as his heart stuttered at the thought of the man sleeping just a few paces away. 

"That's good, isn't it?" Tilde asked, but Eggsy saw her mind shuttering through the implications. She had never been stupid, and even if he had never confessed to his feelings, it was written in the butterfly cases that had hung on the bathroom wall even months after Harry had died, in the way that the kitchen was still organized the same so that when Harry returned he could find the silverware, in the curtains and the pillows and the sheets that largely remained the same.

"Yeah," Eggsy said, shifting in his seat to lean into the blessedly cool airplane window as his eyes drifted shut. Tilde cleared her throat after a moment.

"I heard you," she said quickly, and Eggsy opened his eyes to see tears welling in hers, one elegant hand pressed to her mouth as if trying to keep that secret from spilling out.

"What?" Eggsy blinked, confused.

"When I was paralysed by that...thing. I heard you, your promise. It gave me hope," Tilde's voice cracked at the end, and tears tracked down her beautiful face. Eggsy felt his eyes stinging and he inhaled sharply.

"Tilde," he sighed, trying to put into words all that he wanted to tell her. How much he loved her, but how much better off she would be without him. How despite everything that had happened, despite all the ash and blood he could taste in his mouth, that he felt more at peace than he had in a long time. How he belonged someplace else, how he belonged with someone else.  He looked at her and she looked at him, and she read it all there in his expression, everything he wanted to say.

"I know," she said resolutely, straightening from where she was reclining in bed. "He better be fucking worth it though, Eggsy."

"I think he might be, Tilde. I really do, even if we never - " he trailed off, not really sure how to express himself to her, and not sure he should if he should make the attempt in any case.

"You told me when we started that we couldn't expect to be together forever, but I never expected to actually fall in love with you, Eggsy Unwin,” Tilde said softly, resigned.

"And I never expected to find someone so brilliant and kind and beautiful to share even a portion of my life with, and I really do love you for that, and I'll still love you. But I can't - I can't give you the relationship you deserve."

"I don’t care about what I deserve!" Tilde burst out suddenly, "I was in love with you, and it was enough!"

"I know. I know, and I'm sorry. I'm so, so sorry, Tilde," Eggsy choked out, not bothering to wipe at the tears flowing down his face anymore. "I'm sorry my heart already belonged to someone else. I really love you, but I - I can't, this will tear me apart if I don't face up to it now. I'm sorry."

They sat in silence a few minutes, and Eggsy marveled that it was still comfortable between them, even if the air was heavy.

"You'd have made a pretty poor prince anyway," Tilde admitted finally, a glint back in her eyes. "It would have driven you mad, pretending to give a fuck about all those customs in front of everyone."

"I still think you'd make a decent spy, if you decided to go through the training," Eggsy said fondly, smiling at the old joke between them. Tilde laughed, and they grinned at each other.

"Maybe if palace life becomes too much I can come and help you out on missions," she said with a wistful smile.

"I'd be honored Tilde," Eggsy told her.

"You know...I still want to meet him," Tilde said, "when things have settled down."

"I - yeah. I'd like that," Eggsy said thickly around the sudden lump in his throat.

"Well - goodbye, Eggsy."

"Goodbye, Tilde."

Eggsy threw his mobile down on the seat next to him, closing his eyes again and breathing deeply. Without realizing, the gentle hum of the engine lulled him off to sleep, and he slept soundly until Harry gently shook him awake. Harry looked almost hesitant, and Eggsy flashed back to the image of the soft lepidopterist in the holding cell. Eggsy read the fear behind his blank expression, the stiffness in his posture, and it broke Eggsy’s heart, because Harry still felt that after everything Eggsy might still reject him.

“Let’s go sort this, yeah?” Eggsy said gently, looking up at Harry and stretching a bit.

“Quite,” Harry said with a slight grimace, probably thinking of how they were going to break the news that Whiskey had betrayed them in the end, after all. Eggsy had never had to announce that an agent went rogue; he and Percival had taken care of it quietly the last two times, the aftermath of V-day made it all the more easy to get away with the lie.

They went to the lab and Eggsy wordlessly handed over his glasses to Ginger, then walked to the computer and decrypted the feed. Harry had put his own glasses back on, and neither Eggsy nor Ginger made a move to suggest that Harry remove them before his own video was put into the system. There was a bit of disbelief when they explained everything to the Statesmen in the luxurious conference room later on, but Harry and Eggsy managed to make it out just fine. Ginger, to their relief, was voted in as the new Whiskey, and soon enough they would be able to return to the UK and what remained of home. 

The comment about there being two Galahads stuck with Eggsy afterward, lingering like the burn of the strong liquor they had drank as a toast. He supposed that Harry would, as the senior agent, be promoted to Arthur, and something trembled inside him at the thought. Eggsy was still Mordred and the legends of their namesakes always ended in each other’s blood, and Eggsy felt cold dread whenever he thought about it too long.

They returned home in a Statesmen jet with all sorts of technology, and Eggsy led them to a sparsely decorated safehouse by Holland Park in Kensington. It was slightly further for the commute to the tailor shop, but it was also close enough both in location and appearance to be familiarly comfortable to his and Harry’s now destroyed home. Thankfully, Eggsy had stockpiled the house with all sorts of weapons and equipment when he inherited it as Mordred. He was itching to go down and take inventory of things, check and see if he had an incoming message from either Morgana, figure out what the next step was to build Kingsman up again, distillery in Scotland notwithstanding.

Harry had made a surprised sound when he saw part of his butterfly collection hanging in the hallway, as well as the box of Sun covers tucked into a spare corner. Eggsy sighed internally, pleased that at least his and Tilde’s heated discussion about how he needed to move on and not live as the ghost of the man he loved had meant that he could sit here now and watch as Harry’s fingers traced slowly over a pane of glass that protected his iridescent blue butterflies. These had been in Harry’s bedroom, perhaps they had been new additions he hadn’t gotten around to hanging yet or perhaps they were just extras that had spilled over. Almost everything they knew was gone, but they had this at least.

Eggsy dragged a couple bags the Statesmen had supplied to the office and let Harry poke around the place a bit more. He retreated into the kitchen as Harry examined the wall where a safe was hidden, but the older agent made no move to open it. Eggsy managed to scrounge up some pasta and a jar of sauce, so he threw some water in a pot to boil and then found some teabags in the back of the cupboard. He looked down as something soft ran into his foot, and he gave a small smile at the puppy looking back up at him.

“What should we name him?” Eggsy asked, picking up the little Yorkshire Terrier pup and turning to face Harry fully. Harry studied them for a long minute from where he stood in the entryway to the kitchen, and Eggsy patiently waited for him to speak

“I would suggest Hamish, but Merlin would have hated it, and I don’t doubt his ability to get revenge from beyond the grave. Perhaps it might be more fitting to name him...John Denver.”

“John Denver,” Eggsy whispered, looking at the tiny ball of fur in his arms. “Yeah, I think he’d like that. Alright Mr. Denver, let’s get you all set up. This is your home now too,” Eggsy met Harry’s eyes and nearly blushed at the intensely  _ fond _ expression there.

Eggsy set up the little cushion he bought for the puppy in the main bedroom and put Mr. Denver down to explore, taking a moment to breathe and collect himself. He busied himself by setting up the bedroom for Harry, pulling down an extra blanket from the closet and eventually tracking down a spare toothbrush from a multipack he bought a while back. He neatly folded a robe and pajama set which he hoped would fit Harry’s lanky frame well enough and laid it out on the bed. Glancing around, Eggsy decided everything was as much in order as it would be before their trip to the shops tomorrow.

When he returned back downstairs Harry was stirring the pasta and had somehow managed to conjure up a frozen package of garlic bread and a pan to bake it on. Eggsy stood and watched him for a moment, blinking at how right it felt to watch Harry go about simple tasks in the kitchen like he belonged there, like this was something they did everyday. Harry didn’t turn around, but he gave a small hum of acknowledgement and Eggsy felt his feet carry him forward.

“Set the table please, Eggsy,” Harry said as he opened the oven and put the bread in.

“Yes, Harry,” he replied. Soon enough they were sat down at the table, making their way through a late dinner, though personally Eggsy didn’t have much appetite after everything. Harry cleared his throat.

“How’s your girlfriend?” he asked somewhat awkwardly, and Eggsy startled and blinked at Harry before gently setting his fork down so that he didn’t look like a complete fool for being so perturbed by the question.

“Er - she’s well, got the antidote in time,” Eggsy said slowly, “but we ain’t together anymore. I love her, I really do, but it wouldn’t have worked out, and...it’s better this way.”

“Did you hear nothing I told you on the plane?” Harry asked intently, not touching his food as he stared at Eggsy.

“Of course I did, but honestly Harry, there were always going to be issues with the two of us, and anyway, I couldn’t have coped with being a Prince, and -”

“Beg pardon?” Harry asked, “Did you say you a  _ Prince _ ?”

“Yeah, she’s Swedish royalty, Princess Tilde, don’t know if you’ve heard of her,” Eggsy said somewhat sheepishly. 

“She disappeared before V-day,” Harry said immediately, and Eggsy nodded.

“That’s right. She was in Valentine’s bunker when everything went down. I asked her for a kiss and she offered...more than that. Afterward, we kept in contact and sort of fell into each other in the aftermath of V-day. More often than not, we were kept apart in the beginning dealing with everything going on, but it was nice to talk to someone outside of Kingsman.”

“And you were going to be married,” Harry said softly, his expression inscrutable.

“In that phone call I got, I promised I’d be with her if she’d have me back, but I don’t want to be a Prince, especially if I have to give up Kingsman,” Eggsy said.  _ Especially if I have to give up this, give up you,  _ he thought privately.

“You have more than earned it, if you truly want to leave,” the corners of Harry’s mouth pulled into a slight frown despite the firm statement.

“Nah, I’m a bit selfish, so I’m going to stay right here,” Eggsy countered steadily, and with that they continued dinner in silence. Mr. Denver ran playfully around the house until he decided to use Harry’s foot as a pillow, causing the older man to look down with an indulgent smile. Their eyes met across the table, Eggsy smirking at how utterly besotted Harry already was with the little puppy, and Harry met his gaze unashamedly and didn’t so much as twitch his foot. Eggsy finally released the tension in his shoulders and thought that he and Harry might be able to make this work.

\---

“...face tribunal for the illegal imprisonment of millions of citizens, as well as...” on the screen, images of American football fields where people had been caged were being shown, and they brought on legal experts and civil rights activists and community members to weigh in on the events surrounding the Dancing Disease.

“Where did they get that many cages?” Harry asked with a frown.

“After V-day, nobody was sure what had happened but they knew that more than 40 million people were dead. People ditched their mobiles everywhere, but the United States decided to manufacture cages in case it happened again. I guess they thought to keep people separate and from killing each other. It was really controversial, but people were afraid. Incidentally, drug and alcohol use went up after V-day, which was good business for Poppy, and well...” Eggsy said heavily, thinking back on everything that had happened in the past few weeks, all they had lost.

“That’s…” Harry trailed off, and Eggsy looked over to see the pained expression on his face, how his eyes had closed.

“Hey now, nothin’ we could have done different. Trust me, I’ve played it over in my head a million times, but people pulled through in the end,” Eggsy said soothingly, daring to reach out and brush a hand over Harry’s shoulder.

They went out to the shops after a late breakfast, and thankfully they aren’t too busy on a Wednesday morning. Eggsy may have been a bit overzealous in picking out new pillows and blankets and throw rugs, but he was eager to turn their safe-house into a home. He ended up dragging Harry to an antique store where they stumbled across a steamer trunk, a painting of medieval knights, and a particularly gaudy mirror that ended up being bought despite Harry’s huff of protest. He was grinning even when they get back home, and they spent the rest of the day reorganizing and cleaning the house. By the time they finished, the house looked much warmer and more lived in, and they celebrated with a couple of martinis.

Eventually, Harry made his way up to bed and Eggsy went down to the basement and entered in the code that revealed the panic room where the servers and vital information pertaining to the Camlann Protocols and his position as Mordred were kept. He clicked on his incoming messages to see a short note from one of the Morganas.

_ On the off chance one of you is still alive, emergency protocols have been enacted and Kingsman staff have gone to ground, the Berlin, Lima, Minneapolis, Nairobi, Mumbai and Tokyo offices have all been sealed off with no security breaches detected so far. Blueprints of technology and research documents have been uploaded to this secure server. Offices stand ready to serve as staging ground for action upon Agent’s identification code and pending approval by me in absence of Mordred and Arthur. _

_ If you are alive, please let the rest of us know what the fuck is going on. We may not go out in the field, but Kingsman is our family too.  _

_ \- Morgana _

Eggsy breathed out a sigh of relief; Charlie hadn’t managed to get the locations of the field offices they used as supply bases and technology development centers. That basic network still in place would make rebuilding Kingsman so much easier, though constructing a central HQ would still take a lot of time. Eggsy sent a quick reply to Morgana and went in to edit the status of the Kingsman knights, listing them all as  _ MIA - presumed deceased _ . Then he got to Merlin, and he hesitated before he changed Hamish MacDougall from  _ active  _ to  _ deceased, served honorably. _

He heard a soft sound behind him, and instinct had Eggsy whirling around and reaching for his gun before he registered it was Harry, who gave him a raised eyebrow and nodded towards the room.

“There are Kingsman secrets that even you don’t know about, Harry Hart” Eggsy said, but made no move to stop him from taking a look around. The room, after all, was just a well-stocked panic room, and Eggsy could easily move the server somewhere else. 

“Am I allowed to know these secrets?” Harry asked as he stepped closer and glanced at the screen where Merlin’s profile was still pulled up.

“Not really, but I trust you more than I trust anyone, and you can’t really do much with them anyway,” Eggsy said nonchalantly, peering up and meeting Harry’s gaze. He knew that if he denied Harry outright it would make him even more interested in this mystery. 

“Will you tell me?” Harry asked curiously, and Eggsy gave him a tight smile.

“I won’t go into specifics, but right now I have access to all Kingsman files, and I have to follow procedure. You’ll need to trust me, because I can’t tell you any more than that,” Eggsy said, and Harry must be able to sense that Eggsy won’t budge on this, because the older agent simply brings his hand to rest lightly on Eggsy’s shoulder. Eggsy does his best not to lean into the contact.

“You should try and get some sleep tonight,” Harry said softly, his thumb coming up to brush the skin just above Eggsy’s collar before he withdrew and headed back upstairs. Eggsy let out a shuddery exhale, and long after Harry had left Eggsy thought he could still feel the lingering warmth of Harry’s fingertips.

\---

Harry and Eggsy never talked about the times where Harry paused in the middle of doing something to watch butterflies flutter around his head instead. They never mentioned how both of them startled easily, always on the edge of panic. There was never any comment about who screamed in their sleep that night, caught in the grips of another crushing nightmare. Harry and Eggsy didn’t speak of it, but they often joined each other on the balcony in the morning, sipping tea and discussing what needed to be done for the day. They stood close enough that their arms brushed, and they silently worked to banish the stillness in their hearts.  

They ended up spending a lot of time in Scotland where the new distillery was being built courtesy of Statesmen, arguing about where to build panic rooms and secret tunnels and training facilities. The country manor and the shop turned out to be easier to rebuild, not least because Eggsy has access to detailed blueprints that they replicated in large part, though Harry made several changes to the layout of the library and the agent’s offices.

Eggsy also spent time in the rubble of the agent’s homes and in morgues, trying to ascertain their status despite the difficulty of identifying a body which has been caught in such an explosion. Harry usually invited himself along to lend a hand and his support, even if the exact reasons why Eggsy was so intent on this morbid project were still unknown to him. Eventually he worked his way through the list, and unsurprisingly none of the other agents had survived. In a bitter coincidence, Arthur had called for a mandatory suspension on all missions because things had finally settled down nearly a year after V-day, and he knew, rightly, that they all needed a break. Unfortunately, it had meant that they were all at home when Poppy had launched her missiles at them.

Morgana (who he finally learned was the kindly Evelyn who worked as a handler and led a research and development team) and he had been in contact, and together they created a list of priority personnel they needed to obtain. The younger Morgana had perished because he had been visiting the manor at the time, and so Evelyn was training in a replacement for him. They both knew that Evelyn was really the only person up to filling the Merlin position, but once she was promoted Eggsy would have to help her undergo retraining to forget the existence of Morgana and the Camlann Protocols. The new Morgana would in turn find a second and then at least the twin Morganas as checks on the Merlin, the research teams, and the technical staff would be in place.

Eggsy and Harry needed to figure out a way to fill the Round Table (an actual round table this time, Harry insisted, going out of his way to find a tabletop that spun) before they could do anything else. Then there was the matter of choosing a second Mordred - Eggsy had never asked Percival about that situation because it seemed somewhat awkward to ask the agent in question how to pick his own replacement. Now Eggsy wished he had, because he was utterly at a loss of where to begin.

It was late winter when the Kingsman tailor shop held its grand reopening, nearly eight months after it had been destroyed. Though they kept as true to the original as possible, Eggsy keenly felt the lack of Dagonet’s presence whenever he went into work. The sweet older gentleman had also happened to be Kingsman’s best interrogator, coaxing information with ease from just about anyone with his slightly mischievous smile and calming authority. Eggsy knew the man who replaced him at the front of the shop was just as adept at charming people, but like so much else since Poppy had launched those missiles it just felt incomplete. The country manor was nearly constructed as well, and he and Harry were finally able to focus more of their attention on finding new recruits.

One thing they both agreed on was that they needed to become more diverse, and so they scouted for the best and the brightest in all walks of life.  Eggsy brought in a several people who had been on track for MI6 or the military, a man who had knowledge of and contacts with just about every black market out there but wanted to bring down the people running them, a woman from Spain who worked freelance but had helpfully dispatched the angry human traffickers on his tail and helped him rescue a group of children, and a couple more people from the organized vigilante groups that sprung up after V-day. Statesmen also sent them a few potentials and loaned them an agent by the name of Vodka to help with training. They planned to hire three or four agents in each round of recruitment, but standards would be the same from the previous rounds.

The fucking dog test was the one thing where Harry and Eggsy disagreed, still, and they fell right back into the old argument before they quite realized they were doing it, the paperwork on their dining room table ignored as they stood and squared off angrily.

“It’s bullshit - it proves that Kingsman can trust you to follow orders, but you are just shooting a fuckin’ innocent creature!”

“It’s about more than that, Eggsy! It proves that you trust Kingsman enough to make the right decisions, that even if you don’t understand why you have enough faith that things will turn out alright,” Harry’s eye flashed dangerously as Eggsy nearly tripped over the dining chair  as he rounded the corner of the table so they stood toe to toe .

“Bullshit.  _ You _ ,” Eggsy punctuated this with a hard jab to Harry’s chest, “you told me that a Kingsman only condones risking a life to save another, but the fuckin’ test don’t do that! Shooting the damn dog doesn’t save anyone!”

“The point stands, it is why we have the test, to see if you are up to being a fucking Kingsman agent!” Harry bit out harshly.

“Even after all this time, you think I’m a fuck up! You have no fuckin’ idea, do you? I’ve proved I am more than capable of following fuckin’ orders, of taking out people I’d previously considered friends. Fuck you!” Eggsy spat, so angry he was shaking. Maybe the legends of Mordred and Arthur were right, maybe he and Harry would be the end of each other after all.  

“For fuck’s sake Eggsy! That’s not -” Harry began frustratedly, but Eggsy turned around and made to leave the room. Harry yanked his elbow and spun Eggsy around quickly. Eggsy’s face was pressed into Harry’s crisp white shirt, but before he could process that fact he was backed against the wall with enough force to knock a startled breath from him. Eggsy retaliated by slamming the warm hand that had risen to cup the back of his head into the wall. 

“The fuck d’you think you’re doing?” Eggsy demanded as Harry cursed and his fingers tightened involuntarily in Eggsy’s hair. Harry would probably have bruised knuckles, but Eggsy didn’t care at the moment.

Harry stared at Eggsy with an almost agonized expression, traces of the frustration and hurt from earlier warring with fear and regret in his lone eye. Harry seemed to crumple with shuddering sigh and Eggsy brought his arms up to wrap around Harry, suddenly very confused by what was happening. Harry made a pained sound from the back of his throat and dropped his head into Eggsy’s shoulder. Inhaling sharply, Eggsy brought one hand up to card through Harry’s hair.

“Harry?” he whispered.

“Don’t Eggsy, please don’t.” Harry murmured into Eggsy’s shirt 

“Harry, talk to me please. What’s wrong?” Eggsy said softly, tilting Harry’s face to read his expression.

“Don’t walk away from me with anger, don’t let me walk away from you. I don’t want to regret…” Harry trailed off, but the sound of a gunshot seemed to echo in the stillness, and Eggsy swallowed hard.

“Harry,” he said again, his breath hitching, and Harry melted against him with a soft sigh. Eggsy tried to hold on tightly enough to convince Harry that he was forgiven, that even when they fought Eggsy still loved him, that he would never walk away from this.

“Eggsy, please -” Harry whispered, and then their lips were pressed together, and Eggsy would be glad to spend the rest of his days like this. It was just a chaste kiss, more of a reminder that they were both here and alive than anything, but it was absolutely perfect. 

“Forgive me, Eggsy. I shouldn’t -” Harry drew back and held Eggsy at arm’s length, staring at him for a brief moment before he jerked himself away. Eggsy grabbed his wrist.

“Don’t walk away from me when I’m not finished with you yet, Harry Hart” Eggsy said before surging up to kiss Harry again. Harry hesitated only a moment before pulling him in closer, and Eggsy felt himself slot into place. This was what it meant to find a home.

\---

It felt awkward, to say the least, bringing Harry to meet Tilde, but she did want to meet him and Eggsy wanted to pay his respects to her late father even though it has been a few months since he passed. Harry’s posture was stiffer than normal, but Eggsy tangled their fingers together as they waited in the royal palace. Tilde descended the stairs with a bright smile, drawing Eggsy into a hug and pressing a kiss to his cheek, and Harry looked about ready to punch her before she gave him the same treatment. She whispered something in Harry’s ear which made him splutter and his cheeks flush, much to Eggsy’s delight, and she had a mischievous look on her face as she pulled away from the older man to lead them down the hall to a sitting room.

“How is the pug?” Tilde asked as a footman brought in tea and refreshments. She had the little puppy dropped off to them a few weeks after they had broken up, along with a stock of treats and toys that lasted a year, despite the fact that he and Harry spoiled their dogs no end.

“He’s grown so much!” Eggsy said, showing her what was possibly his favourite picture; the two dogs curled up around each other and Harry laying on his side looking at them with a dopey grin.

“Still can’t believe you named a fucking dog Parachute.” Tilde said and the footman coughed sharply, but she waved her hand at him exasperatedly.

“Well, the other one is named John Denver, so there is that.” Harry remarked with a glint in his eye, and Tilde shook her head, but she smiled at the pair of them.

The tea went smoothly, and any tension Harry had was drained out of him over the next couple days and he and Tilde even began to swap stories about him, which Eggsy pointed out was both rude and unfair, to which Harry responded with a huff of amusement and Tilde laughed brightly. Eggsy took it all in stride, passing the time by sneaking soft looks with Harry and pressing into his side when they went out for walks in the grounds. Soon enough, they needed to get back to Kingsman, but Tilde made them promise to keep in touch.

Curled up in bed the evening after they arrived back home, Eggsy prodded Harry until he rolled over so they faced each other, and Eggsy finally asked a question that had been nagging him all weekend.

“What exactly did she say to you that first day?”

“Hmm?” Harry looked at him, blinking innocently, and Eggsy didn’t buy it for a single moment.

“Don’t play coy, what did she say?” Eggsy asked again. Harry brought their linked hands up to his lips and pressed a kiss to Eggsy’s knuckles before capturing his lips. Eggsy sighed and tangled his hands into Harry’s soft locks, and Harry’s hands skimmed along his ribs for a moment before one one drifted to rest between his shoulder-blades. It took Eggsy a few minutes to remember that he had been asking a question, and he tugged Harry back by his hair to look at him fully.

“I’m asking you a question, Harry, pay attention.” Eggsy tried to sound firm, but the effect was lost as Harry shifted so he was hovering over Eggsy,

“I assure you,” Harry pressed a kiss to the side of his jaw, “I am paying -” a kiss on his chin, “quite -” his cheek, “a lot -” the opposite cheek, “of -” the tip of his nose, “attention.” Harry’s lips brushed over his and Eggsy moaned, eyes fluttering shut. Still, he was determined.

“Please tell me?” Eggsy looked up at Harry with a pleading look on his face, and when Harry wavered he surged up and used his momentum to flip them. Eggsy shifted until his thighs bracketed Harry’s hips, and rolled forward with a groan that Harry echoed. Harry’s hands reached up to grip his hips, but Eggsy grabbed them and pinned them to the mattress on either side of them. He couldn’t resist the urge to rock into Harry one more time, and he grinned in victory as Harry’s fingers scrabbled at the sheets.

“Harry,” Eggsy looked down at him with raised eyebrows, admiring the way his gentlemanly exterior was starting to fray around the edges.

“She said,  _ ‘He never told me you were so sexy, no wonder he wants you to do him in the arsehole. He loves you very much, but if you hurt him I will find a way to kill you with your fucking butterflies.’ _ Satisfied?” Harry asked archly and pushed his hips up into Eggsy, who had started laughing at Tilde’s candor and the absurdity of her threatening Harry with butterflies.

Harry used Eggsy’s breathless laughter to slip his hands free and flip them over again so that he was pinning Eggsy to the bed. Eggsy was breathless for a completely different reason as Harry leaned in to scrape his teeth over his racing pulse and run his hands up Eggsy’s thighs, and he lost all coherent thought not long after, pressed between Harry and the rumpled sheets.

\---

“Welcome to Kingsman,” Harry announced, looking around at the table. It was a full year after the missiles had reduced Kingsman to ash. Eggsy sat to Harry’s immediate right, and as he took in the culmination of the work they put into this new group of knights all he could feel was pride. A dozen new people sat at the table along with himself, Harry, and Agent Vodka (still pleased as ever that he didn’t have to wear a Stetson to meetings). They have done their best to break the old stereotypes and open up the table to people from all different backgrounds. Somewhere, Eggsy imagined Roxy crowing victory over the stuffy corpse of Chester King.

He missed Roxy, Merlin, Percival, JB and all the others who had died a year ago, but they were healing. Eggsy was still Galahad, and he still had his duties as Mordred, including training in the second Mordred and keeping it all a secret from Harry, but the legends of their namesakes don’t bother him anymore. Harry made a great Arthur once he stopped complaining about the extra paperwork, and Eggsy trusted him to lead Kingsman in the right direction. Besides, before they were Arthur and Mordred they were Harry and Eggsy, and as Eggsy bumped his knee into Harry's under the table he thought that he wouldn’t trade this for anything in the world.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you all for getting to the end of this, I hope you enjoyed, and even if you didn't, let me know what you think!
> 
> *Edits made to the first chapter, additional notes. I did include a reference or two to the Camlann Protocols which I don't go into at all. Basically, it is the guidebook for Mordred and Morgana. Oh, and I changed the timeline in which Kingsman gets rebuilt from a year and a half to just a year. There's a timeline in the notes below.*
> 
> Did anyone catch the reference to the original Man From U.N.C.L.E television show?
> 
> Explanation on Mordred, Morgana, and the Camlann Protocols: this will come up in more detail when I create an appendix for all this information, but the Camlann Protocols are the guidebook for Mordred in Morgana. One of the rules in the Camlann Protocols is that only the primary Mordred and Morgana know each other’s identities, which is why Eggsy (who was the second Mordred until Percival died) had no idea who Morgana was until later.
> 
> Locations for regional offices in the letter Morgana wrote are somewhat centrally located, which makes it a good place to deploy an agent from or get stocked up on supplies. They mention Amelia was from the Berlin office in the first movie, so I went with it.
> 
> Eggsy names the pug Parachute in honor of Roxy because of the experience they went through in training and because she always had his back.
> 
> Timeline:  
> 22 June, 2014: Harry gets shot outside the church in Kentucky, to be rescued by Statesmen  
> 19 June, 2015: Poppy launches missiles at Kingsman, the world gets saved at the cost of dear friends, and then Harry and Eggsy head home to rebuild (opening of chapter one).  
> 22 June, 2015: Eggsy and Merlin meet the Statesmen and learn that Harry Hart is alive  
> 26 June, 2015: Eggsy needs to seduce Charlie’s girlfriend at Glastonbury  
> 27 June, 2015: Harry regains his memories  
> 30 June, 2015: Incident in Italy with Whiskey  
> 02 July, 2015: Harry and Eggsy storm Poppyland, Merlin sacrifices himself.  
> 07 July, 2015: Harry and Eggsy return home to the UK on a morning flight.  
> 08 July, 2015: Morgana makes contact, Harry sees Eggsy with Merlin’s profile pulled up in the panic room  
> 13 February, 2016: Kingsman Tailor shop reopens on Savile Row, country manor nearly complete, selection of new agents.  
> 10 March, 2016: Harry and Eggsy finally get together!  
> 13 May, 2016: Eggsy brings Harry to meet Tilde  
> 21 June, 2016: First Round Table meeting with all agents filled at the table (end of chapter one)


	2. Duty

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A year after Poppy, Kingsman is back up to full strength. Harry and Eggsy learn what it means to love, and what it means to do one's duty.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *Edits made to the first chapter, mostly spelling or grammar syntax, a couple sentences got rearranged. I did include a passing reference or two to the Camlann Protocols, which is basically the guidebook for Mordred and Morgana (that's about all I explain in that chapter). Oh, and I changed the timeline in which Kingsman gets rebuilt from a year and a half to just a year. See the end of the chapter for timeline notes*
> 
> To be honest, I wasn't going to add to this story, and then my brain decided to go ahead and decide this should be in three parts. Not going to lie, I'm not too pleased about how the pacing of it is (I can't write anything without really weird time jumps, sorry) but I refuse to turn this into a story of more than 25,000 words. I refuse. So, weird pacing it is then.
> 
> The Plan is to have a story with three chapters, and then I'll create an appendix with super detailed timelines and actual written out descriptions of the Camlann Protocols and maybe even character bios. Because I like that stuff. 
> 
> Anyway, here's hoping you enjoy this second chapter! All mistakes are my own, unlike the characters (let me know if you spot mistakes though, pretty please?).

“Good morning, Merlin!” Eggsy greeted cheerfully as he leaned against her desk in the newly built, state-of-the-art tech facilities. Merlin glanced up at him, a gunmetal grey curl loosened from where she had pulled her hair back as she worked.

“Good morning Galahad. What brings you down to the labs?” she asked, eyes flicking back down to some technical report.

“I can’t just come down and visit?” Eggsy asked with a slight grin. Merlin paused in her reading and sent him an unamused stare over the top of her clipboard.

“I wanted to congratulate you on those new contact lenses - not only a video feed that works just as well as the regular glasses, but virtually undetectable trackers too!”

“Yes, well you certainly tested them over this last week Galahad,” Merlin said with a pointed look. Eggsy still had a scrape along his cheek and his arm wrapped in a sling, and that didn’t count all the bruises and cuts he got after being kidnapped, escaping from said kidnappers with few clothes and less dignity, and then avoiding gunfire by throwing himself over a cliff and into the North Sea.

“Those things are aces though, they snapped my glasses but didn’t even think to check for contacts. Would’ve froze to death hadn’t been for them, so thanks,” Eggsy said sincerely, handing back the thin black case which held the now thoroughly field-tested contacts.

“Glad to be of service then,” Merlin replied. “Is that all?”

“There’s homemade scones and tea in the breakroom,” Eggsy said, and Merlin’s lips quirked up in a half-smile before she made a shooing motion with her hands.

“Thank you, Galahad. Now get out of here, some of us actually have work to do!” she said with mock exasperation. Eggsy nodded and left her to her work, wandering back down the hall and nearly running into one of the techs as he left his office.

“Oh, sorry Aaron!” Eggsy said, quirking a brow at him. _Anything?_

“Morning Eggsy,” Aaron greeted with a minute shake of his head. _Nothing._

“Good morning. I’d stay but your boss has already scolded me today about distracting her,” Eggsy said with a rueful grin, and Aaron laughed.

“Well, best to stay out of trouble then! See you later Galahad,” Aaron said with a wave.

Eggsy sighed and decided to do paperwork for a couple hours, managing to finish it early for once. Then he attended their second monthly Round Table meeting. After they were all dismissed Eggsy followed Harry to his office, getting a baleful look when he added his completed mission report and the inventory of equipment form to the stack of papers on Harry’s desk. Eggsy teased him about it, and then soothed him with a chaste kiss that Harry deepened for a few moments before pulling away with a frustrated sound.

“As lovely as you are, I really do need to read the report from Kay’s last mission,” Harry sighed, making absolutely no move to release Eggsy and get back to work. Eggsy lingered in the warmth of Harry’s arms for just a moment longer before gently pushing him back, placing a kiss to Harry’s jaw before he stepped away.

“I think I’m going to head home early and try making that vegetable lasagne thing,” Eggsy said, and Harry smiled softly at him.

“Alright darling, I’ll be there as soon as I can.”

Before Eggsy went home, he stopped off at the house which not even Harry knew about, and where he now conducted his business as Mordred. After Harry had caught him the first time shortly after the incident with Poppy and the destruction of Kingsman, it had taken Eggsy less than two weeks to secure another safe-house and a new server for anything relating to the Camlann Protocols or his roles as Mordred. He turned the secret room in their personal house into an ordinary panic room and gave Harry access to it, hoping it would quell Harry’s curiosity. They could both still access all the official Kingsman records from home, and Harry had asked how Eggsy came to have access to the information in the first place. Eggsy used a dead man’s silence as an alibi when he claimed that Merlin had granted him access due to activating the Doomsday Protocol, and the answer seemed to satisfy Harry.

Eggsy needed to catch up on the record-keeping that came with being the only active Mordred agent. He accessed the room hidden cleverly behind the far wall, and proceeded to verify that Kay’s mission went exactly as she said it did - he noted a 20 minute discrepancy between her report and his information with a frown, but Kay didn’t have any other strikes so far. Sometimes in the heat of a mission agents lost track of time, and Kay like most of them only had a couple months on the job. He flagged it anyway.  Eggsy shook his head and pulled up the personnel directory, which tapped into the official records but also contained notes from Mordred and Morgana. He pulled up a profile summary of the current Merlin.

_Name: Evelyn Jane Cartwright_

_Position: Merlin_

_Medical: An injury from the 2008 explosion in the development lab has left subject with a prosthetic foot. In 2011 a car accident caused slight spinal injuries._

_Additional: Formerly Morgana, 4 months since mandatory retraining, no signs of recollection regarding the existence of Mordred and Morgana or the Camlann Protocols._

Eggsy was glad that at least the former Morgana’s retraining had stuck. Messing with memory - and only targeting specific memories, was a subtle and tricky business, and Kingsman retraining dealt with a chemically-aided form of memory suppression. Evelyn Cartwright had spent nearly 30 years as Morgana, and all the specific actions she took according to her role had needed to be erased.

During retraining those memories that Eggsy couldn’t take care of - Evelyn’s attention to detail when it came to her staff, for instance, or all that accumulated knowledge that was never acted on, was left untouched. Thankfully, it was almost certain that her own mind would supply retroactive reasons and memories for why she had such information - often the excuse cited in past retraining experiences was that being employed by an international intelligence agency made one a bit paranoid anyway, and any odd behavior was explained that way. Whatever Evelyn Cartwright came up with to explain these flukes, there was no denying that she did her job as Merlin well.

Eggsy glanced at the clock and logged out of the system, stopping at the shops to pick up groceries for that night before heading home. Dinner was a quiet and familiar affair, but he could tell that Harry had a headache - despite all the nanotechnology in the world there were still side-effects of getting shot in the head. Eggsy drew Harry a warm bath after dinner, and afterward cajoled him into lying face down on the bed where Eggsy massaged his neck and shoulders. Harry turned his head sideways on the pillow, and the corner of his mouth was pulled downward into a frown while his lips were pressed a little more tightly together. Part of that was due to his headache, but Eggsy leaned forward to murmur in Harry’s ear just the same.

“I love you Harry, you ain’t going to convince me to not spoil you when you deserve it. Please, Harry,” Eggsy kissed beneath Harry’s ear, carding his fingers carefully through his hair, and got a resigned sigh in return, though Eggsy was pleased to note that he felt some of the tension drain from Harry at his words.

“You shouldn’t have to do this,” Harry said half-heartedly, slightly muffled by the pillow.

“No, I don’t have to do it, but I want to. I like takin’ care of you, so just let me, yeah? You’ve never been good at denying me anything, don’t start with this.” Eggsy whispered, and Harry closed his eyes with a sigh. Eggsy took the invitation as it was to continue easing the knots in Harry’s shoulders away and afterward, Harry tugged him into his arms and thanked him with a sleepy kiss. Eggsy hummed contently and tucked himself further into Harry’s embrace, listening to the steady sound of his breathing until he fell asleep.

\---

“Come with me, please,” Eggsy said to a young woman, and to her credit she didn’t startle or give away anything as they made their way to the car he had parked out on the street. They drove for about an hour before he led her up to a secure flat, deactivating the security system and ushering her inside. He gestured for her to sit on the couch and went into the kitchen to fix tea. He handed her a steaming mug and she looked at him, not drinking and not saying a word.

“Agent Bedivere, how are you this evening?” Eggsy asked as he took a sip of his own tea.

“Well enough, Agent Galahad,” Bedivere replied curtly.

“Did you enjoy your weekend? Your parents seemed happy to see you, especially now that your brother has gone off to college - in Madrid, wasn’t it? You must be very proud of him,” Eggsy said, studying her closely. She drew in a sharp, barely-noticeable breath, but her tone was perfectly even as she answered.

“It was good to catch up with family,” Bedivere said, nodding.

“That’s good to hear. I wanted to discuss something with you,” Eggsy said, and she tipped her head in gesture for him to continue.

“You know, I’m sure, the events of last year which destroyed most of our resources, and so you also know that loyalty is essential. I need to know, would you protect Kingsman under any circumstances?” he asked her, and she narrowed her eyes at him before responding.

“No, I wouldn’t,” she answered confidently. but Eggsy could tell she was trying to figure out where this was leading.

“Even if it meant condemning people to death. Fellow agents, your friends,” Eggsy said, and she drew a long breath but nodded in affirmative.

“Tell me why I shouldn’t shoot you right here, then. You have taken an oath to protect Kingsman, going against that oath is a betrayal, and I cannot allow that,” Eggsy said, pulling a gun on her. Bedivere’s eyes twitched, but otherwise she stayed completely still.

“Not...under any circumstances,” she said, eyeing the gun cautiously. Eggsy hummed thoughtfully.

“Explain,” he said, staring at her.

“I wouldn’t protect Kingsman if we started to risk people’s lives unnecessarily, or if we started to side with criminals,” she stated firmly, meeting Eggsy’s look with a challenging look.

“What would you do then?” Eggsy asked lightly, eyebrows raised.

“If I thought Arthur was unaware I would try to bring it to him, and hopefully we’d be able to fix it,” Bedivere said.

“What if there were multiple traitors within Kingsman? What if Arthur was among them?” Eggsy said lowly, and Bedivere blinked and thought for a moment.

“I would try and figure out who was involved and contact Statesmen, or if I didn’t think that was an option MI6, maybe. Or I could take a page out of Poppy Adam’s book and just send missiles to wipe you out,” Bedivere told him, her dark eyes glittering.

“Once again, killing the agents and staff who had no idea of what was happening” Eggsy said flatly, his gun still aimed toward her.

“I stand by what I said, I will always put protecting ordinary people above the agency. Kingsman can’t be allowed to go rogue,” Bedivere looked about ready to try and fight her way out of this situation, so Eggsy tucked the gun away and leaned back in his seat.

“I have a proposition for you, Bedivere. Let me tell you about the Camlann Protocols…”

Over the next few months Eggsy showed Bedivere how to become Mordred, teaching her how to access personnel files and mission logs and where the best places were to get additional camera and audio records. She was a quick-study, more detail-oriented than Eggsy had been and with a knack for spotting inconsistencies. He had given her the Mordred records of previous agents, and asked which person she would shoot for betraying the agency. He was ruthless when she made a mistake.

“You’re _dead_ , Agent Bedivere. Tristan IV was a valuable asset who would have gone on to save your life on multiple occasions had you not shot him. The real traitor was Gawain III, who made an assassination attempt on Arthur II two months after you let your guard down because you thought you had eliminated the threat.”

“But Tristan was sneaking off to secret meetings, and he had argued with Arthur several times in the past…”

“Tristan’s younger brother was into debt and had turned to a loan shark, Tristan was trying to resolve the situation. The unrelated arguments between Tristan and Arthur were due to how Kingsman handled civilian casualties - Arthur II was a bit callous as long as the mission was successful, but Tristan didn’t approve so much of that.”

“What about Gawain? He had a perfect record.”

“Arthur was also an influential politician, and at  the start of World War 2 had anyone with ties to Germany rounded up and questioned, including the wife of Gawain’s cousin. She was treated roughly during the process, and Gawain sought revenge.”

“How would I have known from the Kingsman records?”

“You wouldn’t, not from the official records you keep regarding their Kingsman activities. You have to get to know them, learn about their families, their friends, their favorite colour, their childhood nickname. Every detail matters. You need to make friends, as Bedivere and even as Lorena, so that you know who to shoot later. Keep your enemies closer, and all that.”

“¡Joder!” she exclaimed angrily.

“Lo siento, Bedivere. La vida de Mordred es una vida muy solitaria y amarga.”

It was a harsh lesson to learn, but Bedivere started getting the hang of being Mordred, and Eggsy was able to breathe a little easier now that both the Mordred and the Morgana roles were up to full-strength. Life at Kingsman continued, winter arrived, and everyone seemed caught up in the holiday cheer. He and Harry spent Christmas Eve curled up watching _The Lion in Winter,_ thoroughly enjoying Katharine Hepburn and Peter O’Toole plotting and cursing each other as they fought over which of their sons would become the next king. Harry had done his best to ensure that most of the Kingsman staff could enjoy the season, but there was still always work to do.

Eggsy went to Singapore to protect a visiting ambassador in early January, then to Greenland to infiltrate a group of fugitive arms dealers, then to Colombia to stop an attempted coup. Harry flew out to join him on a mission in Italy where they ran into a lot more trouble than expected, but after some well-placed explosions and a chase through the narrow winding roads of Serra Pedace which left them both breathless Harry took him to a nice dinner and kissed him senseless as soon as they got to their hotel room.

When they weren’t chasing down suspects or kept late in meetings or dealing with an international crisis, Harry and Eggsy spent their evenings curled up together on the sofa, watching old movies and comedy reruns. Sometimes they’d end up trading lazy kisses, but often they just basked in the feeling of being close to each other, especially after one or the other had returned from a mission. Eggsy loved these moments, Harry’s steady presence wrapped around him and the calm that took over them both as they relaxed as much as members of an international intelligence agency ever did. These evenings were almost perfect, except for one thing...

“It’s your turn to let them out,” Harry said softly into Eggsy’s hair as Mr. Denver stared at them with pitiful eyes and yipped once, twice, three times. Parachute started scratching the door in the other room, and Eggsy groaned.

“I let them out last time,” he grumbled, closing his eyes and refusing to budge.

“I’ll kiss you if you let the dogs out,” Harry said encouragingly. Eggsy opened his eyes and tilted his face to look at Harry.

“You’d kiss me anyway,” he said with a huff, but got up anyway. Both the dogs ran excitedly about his feet as he opened the door to the back garden, and Eggsy muttered darkly at them, “you know, it’s good you two are cute, I’d just got comfy.”

Eggsy poured himself and Harry a glass of wine each, going back into the living room but not sitting back down yet. Harry thanked him softly, taking a sip before focusing back on Eggsy.

“You know, it’s our anniversary in a couple weeks,” Harry started, and Eggsy blinked - _had it already been a year since that stupid argument had led to a kiss and reconciliation and the start of the most wonderful thing to happen to him?_ Harry smiled and continued, “I was hoping you would let me take you out to dinner, and then we could celebrate properly here afterward. What do you think?”

Eggsy leaned down to answer Harry with a kiss that quickly turned deeper, and he was forced to set his glass down on the table behind him to keep it from spilling. He had just straddled Harry’s lap and started working on the buttons of his shirt when Harry pushed him away with a frown. Eggsy was confused until Harry pointed into the other room, and Eggsy finally registered the fact that the dogs were barking at the door.

“I swear I’ll fucking shoot them,” Eggsy said as he buried his face Harry’s shoulder. Harry hummed at him and lifted Eggsy’s head back up to give him a chaste kiss.

“That would make all your efforts to win that particular argument rather wasted, wouldn’t it?” Harry asked with an amused look.

“Giving you a blowjob is never a waste, Harry,” Eggsy told him seriously, then winked.

“I’ll keep that in mind next time you try and bribe me into folding your laundry,” Harry said wryly, his hands settled on either side of Eggsy’s hips.

“Give you one to let the dogs in?” Eggsy tried half-heartedly as the barking outside continued. Harry shook his head fondly and prodded at him until Eggsy finally gave in and stood.

“My dear, we both know you would anyway”

\---

Eggsy had just won a friendly sparring match with Tristan, though barely. He admitted if Tristan hadn’t been recovering from a particularly rough mission over in Tunisia then she probably would have been able to counter that last move and beat him. He claimed a shower and scrubbed himself down, feeling energized, not only because of the exercise but because Harry had left flowers on his desk that morning. When Eggsy put on his glasses again after changing he found a message from the man himself, and he strolled through the hallways until he reached Harry’s office. Eggsy pushed open the door with an easy grin, still not bothering to knock.

“Hey Harry, thanks for - “ Eggsy halted in the doorway. At first glance everything seemed normal, but Harry’s lips were drawn into a thin line and he looked more pale than normal. Eggsy quietly shut the door behind him and approached Harry, taking how tense he was and how tight the skin around the scar where his left eye once resided was, his whole expression barely contained anger. Harry stood up with an agitated sound, only then seeming to realize that Eggsy was waiting patiently at his side.

“Pellinore is dead,” Harry said finally, and Eggsy drew in a sharp breath, hands clenched tight enough that his nails bit into his palms for an instant before he realized what he was doing.

“How?” he asked faintly, staring at Harry.

“Mission in Chile, it was a fucking recon job, it shouldn’t have...” Harry trailed off and took a moment to breathe, and when he spoke again his tone was much more even. “We will hold a toast to him this evening, and by the end of next week we’ll have a new batch of recruits to train.”

“Fuck,” Eggsy whispered.

“I’m sorry Eggsy, I know he was one of your candidates,” Harry reached out to grab Eggsy’s shoulder, and Eggsy turned fully into his embrace.

“He was a good agent. Fuck!”

“He was indeed, and we haven’t even made it a year since rebuilding,” Harry sighed heavily.

“We can survive this, Kingsman can survive this. I don’t want you blamin’ yourself, ‘cause I can already tell that’s what you’re planning to do. Weren’t your fault, Harry,” he said firmly, placing his hands on either side of Harry’s face and forcing him to meet Eggsy’s eyes. Harry was silent for a long time, just staring back at him. An odd expression twisted across his face and he looked like he was about to speak, but Eggsy held his gaze steadily and Harry swallowed whatever he had been about to say.

“I’m afraid we’ll have to cancel our dinner reservations,” Harry told him ruefully instead, and Eggsy gave him a weak smile.

“Not the best circumstances, but I’d still rather be here with you.”

\---

The newest candidates were fucking disasters.

“Percival was good at reading people, wonder if he kept a list of potential recruits somewhere,” Eggsy muttered to himself as he and Harry watched them struggle with the obstacle course. Of course, they had been told to complete the run as quickly as possible, but Harry had neglected to tell them that the course was designed to be done using teamwork. One of the men finally seemed to catch on and pulled two of the others aside, and soon the three of them had scrambled over the wall, leaving the rest of the group trying to catch up.

“That was Kay’s candidate wasn’t it?” Harry asked, and Eggsy nodded.

“Perhaps there’s hope yet, but if you do happen to find that list…” Harry said, and Eggsy snorted before heading to the plane to take down a criminal syndicate in Oregon, of all places.

With an agent down and still too many people out there trying to do harm to the world, Harry and Eggsy had less time to spend with each other. Harry himself was largely in charge of training in the new recruits, while Eggsy was halfway across the world on his latest mission. The long hours they were putting in and the distance between them put a strain on their relationship, which came to a head after Eggsy had to accept a honeypot mission in order to get the location of the meeting place where a criminal ring was going to ship a major supply of drugs and weapons.

Harry had been extremely moody after that mission. Eggsy wouldn't exactly call it sulking, because Harry was a gentleman and wouldn't be caught dead doing that, but he was more withdrawn and his expression tightened minutely whenever Eggsy went near him. They had barely touched in the last two months, and it caused Eggsy to feel jittery under his skin. One afternoon that they both miraculously had free, Eggsy went up to give Harry a hug, and Harry held himself back, hesitated just for a moment before he brought his arms lightly around him. Eggsy finally snapped.

"Fucking hell, Harry. He was decent-looking and knew what he was doing, but he wasn't _you_ . It was for a fucking mission which _you_ sent me on, so don't you dare blame this on me! I fucking hate honeypots, you know I do, I just - _fuck._ Don't hate me for because I was forced to sleep with a target on _your_ fucking orders!"

"Oh, Eggsy, no. I don't hate you for that, I would never -" Harry started.

"Then why do you pull away whenever I try and touch you?" Eggsy interrupted him, blinking quickly as tears came to his eyes. Harry noticed and Eggsy was soon pulled into a warm hug. He thought about struggling or walking away to give Harry a taste of his own medicine but it felt so good to simply be held again that he nearly sobbed in relief instead. He inhaled the scent of Harry's cologne, his lungs heaving with emotion.

"Darling..." Harry said, and then pressed a kiss to his temple before continuing, "I was so jealous when I saw him fucking you, I was practically incandescent. Even though I gave you that mission, I couldn't bear to see you with another person. Then you returned and I felt guilty that I even for a moment doubted you, how committed you are. I suppose I've been trying to keep my distance so that you don't have to deal with my feelings on your non-existent betrayal."

"I don’t want that fucking creep to be the last person who touched me, Harry. _Please._ "

“I’m sorry, I’m sorry Eggsy. I’m here now, I’m sorry I let my jealousy get in the way,” Harry whispered into soothingly into his ear. Eggsy leaned into Harry and felt whole for the first time in months.

“Don’t do that to me again. Thought you’d come to your senses about me and reconsidered, y’know, us,” Eggsy admitted, and Harry drew in a sharp breath. It was an old argument between them, and bringing it up now was a bit of a low blow, to be honest. Harry was always upset whenever anyone implied Eggsy was inferior due to his class. Eggsy suggesting that Harry himself believed the same thing was something that had only come up in some of their most tense arguments, and even now Harry was standing rigidly, but his hands clutched at Eggsy and pulled him closer.

“It would take a lot to make me reconsider,” Harry said firmly, his voice low. “Now I believe you had a complaint about the last person who touched you. Let’s remedy that, shall we?”

"Fuck yes, Harry"

\---

Eggsy was kept out of the field for a couple weeks after he got stabbed between the ribs in fucking Wales of all places. He kept himself busy by working on the Camlann archives, though he was frustrated at the lack of information on Lamorak’s long-term undercover mission. He was contemplating what to do about that when a notification for an unusual access of records popped up in the corner of his screen. Frowning, he clicked on the link and was brought to the old Inventory of Equipment documents, from before Kingsman had been destroyed. Two decades of information had been recently accessed, concentrating on certain agents, including Percival, Lancelot, Tristan, Gawain, and Galahad. _What the fuck were they looking for in these dusty old reports?_

Eggsy checked who had decided to do a little historical research, and his heart sank when Harry’s name came up. Eggsy had thought, more than a year and a half ago now, that acting nonchalant about Harry finding the room would serve better than outright denying him - Harry was a spy for a reason.  It worked for a time, they were both so busy rebuilding Kingsman that Harry plenty of other things to occupy him, and Eggsy had after all given him access to the room, so it had seemed like had nothing to hide. Now that the organization was back on its feet and there wasn’t a gulf between them anymore due to the honeypot mission, Harry evidently had time to start snooping around this old mystery. It figured that Harry had known him well enough even before they became lovers to recognize that there really were secrets Eggsy was keeping from him.

 _Am I allowed to know these secrets?_ Harry’s question those many months ago seemed to echo around the room and rattle around in his head. Eggsy bit his lip, glancing at the computer screen before deciding to log out of the system. Mordred would keep a wary eye, Eggsy needed to go visit his mum and Daisy before joining Harry for a well-deserved night in.

For two wonderful and frustrating weeks, Eggsy had a chance to relax. He hung out with his mates, helped Daisy with her school art project, and even managed to get all caught up on paperwork. As nice as it was to not have to escape criminals intent on shooting him or baking in the hot sun on truly awful reconnaissance missions, he was anxious to get back out into the field on an actual assignment again by the end of it. In bored desperation he ended up cleaning the house from top to bottom.

As he was putting fresh linens on the bed he noticed that the drawer on Harry’s nightstand was just slightly open, and he went to shut it before curiosity got the better of him and he pulled open the drawer. Inside was a jumbled mess of books and papers and drawings of butterflies, and while Eggsy knew that this drawer was Harry’s concession to his need for chaos, something about the whole arrangement seemed...off, deliberately instead of casually messy.

Carefully, he lifted the pile with one hand, taking pains not to shift anything, and he peered underneath the stacks to find a couple of pens, an old set of earphones, and - Eggsy’s eyes widened - a jewellry box. He drew in a sharp breath and allowed his other hand to come up and brush the front of the small, black velvet box with trembling fingers. It was the exact size as a ring box and it had a neat little bow of silver tinsel tied around the sides.

His mind flashed to a moment nearly six months ago, just after the holidays. His mum had dropped Daisy off for the day, and she immediately attached herself to Harry. After showing her his butterfly collection Harry had found leftover tinsel from who-knows-where and had wove green and red strands into Daisy’s hair and around her fingers and her wrists. She delightfully did the same for him, though Harry helped her wind the gold tinsel around the band of his leather eyepatch. The two of them had turned toward Eggsy with bright smiles and shining eyes, and Eggsy had been transfixed by the sight. They pulled him into their fun, Daisy enthusiastically decorated his glasses in blue and pink, while Harry had tangled their fingers together in a bunch of silver tinsel.

 _What a clever, sneaky man!_ Eggsy thought, ducking his face to hide his uncontrollably wide grin into his shoulder, as if his smile was enough to summon Harry to his side and reveal the invasion of privacy. Holding his breath, Eggsy gently set down the stack of papers he was holding up and made sure everything was in place before shutting the door exactly how he found it. He then proceeded to strip the bed of its clean linens and fold them, setting them on top of the bed to make it look like he hadn’t gotten around to cleaning their bedroom yet.  

Eggsy was practically buoyant after his accidental discovery, and it was lucky that Harry was busy dealing with some sort of crisis at Statesmen and he was sent back into the field for a three-week mission that ended up with him waist deep in mud and blood. He was a lot less cheerful when he returned, exhausted and sore, but it had given him time to come to terms with the fact it looked like Harry was planning on proposing to him.

He had daydreamed about what Harry would look like stood in front of an altar, a bespoke suit created for celebration only, no fieldwork. It would be a small, intimate wedding with Daisy as their flower girl. The image burned in his mind, but he managed to turn his delighted smile whenever he thought about it into a mere quirk of the lips. Hopefully, Harry would be none the wiser.

Unfortunately, it seemed Harry was much more intent on asking Eggsy questions about his past, sometimes about his childhood, but more often about the year after V-day when Eggsy had been a Kingsman agent and Harry had been stuck in a holding cell while Statesmen tried to trigger his memory with various traumatic experiences. They were comfortably seated together on the sofa, the opening strains of some movie playing on the television. Eggsy leaning into Harry’s shoulder and absentmindedly stroking Mr. Denver, who currently occupied Harry’s lap. Parachute was jealous of the attention, and Eggsy leaned over to scoop the pug up, getting a happy, slobbery dog kiss in thanks. Harry patted Parachute on the head before tugging Eggsy back into place so that his head rested on Harry’s chest, and then he linked his fingers with Eggsy’s with a sigh.

“Tell me more about the year I missed,” Harry said softly, his thumb running along the inside of Eggsy’s wrist.

“You’ve been really interested in that lately. Why?” Eggsy asked him, tilting his head up just a little so he could see Harry.

“There is so much I missed that year. This here,” Harry tightened his grip for a moment, “I would have never known this existed if you hadn’t brought back my memories. I want to know absolutely everything about you, Eggsy. I’m determined not to miss anything.”

“Oh, my dearheart,” Eggsy whispered. Harry gave a huff of fond exasperation at the terrible pun, but he allowed Eggsy to press a chaste kiss to his lips all the same. Eggsy settled back into Harry’s embrace and cleared his throat.

“It was tough, after V-day. I had lost you and there were so many dead, we didn’t know where to even start. Sometimes I texted Tilde, but the person who was really there in those first months was Percival, actually,” Eggsy told Harry, who made a surprised sound but allowed Eggsy to continue.

Eggsy told Harry about the mission where he and Percival got to know each other as friends (and outside their duties as Mordred). After a near-death escape that left both of them sporting fetching bruises, Eggsy had fallen unconscious due to some sort of drug they managed to dart him with. He had woken in a strangely warm and colorful flat with Percival contemplating a truly impressive alcohol selection. Of course, Percival was also a very pragmatic person, and so it wasn’t until he had made sure Eggsy was showered, fed, and had a proper, non drug-induced sleep that he actually allowed either of them to drink.

“He set a limit as well, two bottles of beer and a shot each, said that the point wasn’t to get completely smashed, it was to to talk. I don’t know if you knew, but he was in a relationship with the Lancelot before Roxy, and so we both spent that night lamenting over dead men,”  Eggsy said to Harry.

“I had suspected they might be in a relationship, but it was against the rules at the time and it wasn’t my place to ask,” Harry murmured, pressing a kiss to the top of Eggsy’s head.

“I was lucky in the end, you came back to me,” Eggsy whispered quietly, thinking back to the time when Harry’s death had left a void in his heart, and shuddering.

“Anyway,” Eggsy continued with a shaky sigh, “Percival made it a point to check in with Roxy and I as often as possible, reigned in my temper after I had done something stupid, and he saved my life a few times. I think he was the first one to know that I was in love with you. Knew before I did.”

Eggsy’s mind wandered back to the night he and Percival spent drinking and talking and grieving together. Eggsy told Percival that his situation was worse than Eggsy’s own - Eggsy had lost a mentor while Percival had lost the love of his life. In response, Percival gave him a look that was so full of pity that Eggsy needed to turn away and finish off his beer with a quick gulp to hide the tears coming to his eyes.

“I’m glad that you had someone to rely on, at least,” Harry interrupted Eggsy’s thoughts, and he nudged Harry’s knee with his own gratefully. They were both drawn back to the movie they had been watching, and after the closing credits they managed to extract themselves from their furry companions and headed up to bed.

\---

“I’ve terminated the employment of one of the researchers in the Berlin office,” Morgana told him as they finished eating a light breakfast in the safehouse. Mordred had just given Morgana an update on the status of the agents, and they had gone through and streamlined part of the computer system that house the Camlann archives.

“Oh? An accident on vacation?” Mordred asked curiously.

“Bad genetics, the poor thing. Her family had chronic heart problems,” Morgana replied smoothly, and Mordred reminded himself never to get on the man’s bad side.

“Any other issues Mordred should be aware of?” he asked, and Morgana shook his head, but then hesitated.

“I couldn’t help but notice the notation made by your second on Harry Hart,” he said slowly, as if aware he were approaching dangerous territory. Mordred didn’t react to the statement, because Mordred had no emotional ties to anyone. Eggsy winced internally and struggled to maintain his composure.

“Should circumstances change in regards to Harry Hart, rest assured Mordred will take the appropriate measures,” he said evenly, meeting Morgana’s gaze without an ounce of hesitation. Morgana studied him for a moment, his eyes piercing, before nodding in satisfaction at whatever he saw.

“Always nice catching up, Eggsy,” the man replied, and it was no longer Morgana in front of him but simply Aaron Thompson, the jovial and slightly nerdy researcher who amused the staff with science jokes and occasionally brought in home-brewed beer for them to sample.

Aaron finished his tea with a gulp and brought the mug and his plate to the sink. Eggsy watched him gather his papers and bag. Finally, the other made it to the door and turned with a raised eyebrow.

“You know I always enjoy our conversations,” Eggsy told him, sincerely. Aaron smiled, but it didn’t reach his eyes.

“So do I, but this one wasn’t as good as the others, and for that I _am_ sorry,” Aaron told him. Eggsy nodded his head in silent acknowledgement, and then Aaron was out the door. Eggsy stared blankly at where the other had stood for five minutes before he allowed himself to bury his head in his hands with a groan. Harry Hart, spy extraordinaire, didn’t know when to fucking quit. He finally pulled up the summary of Harry’s profile with a sigh.

_Name: Harold Andrew Hart_

_Position: Arthur, formerly Galahad_

_Medical: Sustained head injury in Kentucky, U.S.A and was rescued by Statesmen, but suffered retrograde amnesia until he was recovered by Merlin and Galahad. No evidence that subject was in any way compromised during his time at Statesmen, despite the rigorous tests they put him through._

_Additional: Subject has accessed the Inventory of Equipment records of multiple agents from the past two decades, and perhaps has made a connection between equipment reported missing or damaged and the weapons stockpile in his personal home. Subject has in addition accessed the agent files on Percival (VII) and Gawain (V), who both served as Mordred._

_It is recommended that we keep subject under high-level surveillance, and consider the possibility that he may need to undergo retraining in the future..._

Eggsy wanted to tear out his hair in frustration. After their conversation about Percival, Harry had accessed the file on him. Eggsy had been ready to dismiss it as more of the same curiosity about the year he missed, and that seemed to be backed up when Harry also accessed the old Lancelot files. Eggsy had been sent on a mission to Johannesburg, and when he returned there had been an additional notation made by Bedivere - Harry had checked the Gawain files, and Percival’s again. It didn’t bode well for keeping Mordred a secret, especially if Harry was determined enough to seek it out.

“Fuck, Harry, _don’t do this to me_ ,” he whispered to the empty room.

\---

Harry spoiled him after he returned from a simple three-day mission up in Ireland with a homecooked meal and perfectly-made martinis and deep kisses that stole his breath away. Then Harry pulled some sort of chocolate mousse for dessert out of the fridge and spoonfed him, and Eggsy moaned both at the flavour and the heated look in Harry’s eye. It wasn’t long before they made their way up to the bedroom, and Harry brought him to completion _twice_ with his hands and lips before he sank into Eggsy started up a steady, almost lazy pace. Eggsy writhed beneath him, clutching desperately at his broad shoulders as Harry fucked him for what felt like hours until he finally tipped them both over the edge. Harry went to fetch a towel from the bathroom to clean them up, but Eggsy, completely knackered, didn’t even manage to keep his eyes for his return.

He woke to the sound of Harry rummaging around in his nightstand looking for something, and he moaned softly and turned his head further into the pillow. The noise stopped for a moment before Harry shut the drawer and Eggsy listened to the soft whisper of his clothes as he walked around to the other side of the room. Something was placed onto the end of the bed, and Eggsy ignored it until the shock of Mr. Denver’s cold nose and wet tongue jolted him into alertness.

“Agh!” Eggsy protested, his eyes flying open just in time to see Harry place Parachute on the bed as well. Harry, the smug bastard, was already impeccably dressed, and Eggsy stretched and sent him a look that he hoped would coax him back into bed.

“Sorry, darling, I need to go in for a conference call with the Tokyo office,” Harry said apologetically.

“Sure you can’t -” Eggsy tried, but his voice was hoarse and it failed him after a few words. Harry smirked at him and Eggsy flushed as he remembered exactly _why_ he couldn’t speak this morning.  

“I can’t reschedule,” Harry told him, finally taking pity on him.  Eggsy nodded, absentmindedly patting Parachute, who had taken Harry’s vacated spot. Mr. Denver decided to lie perched on the pillows above Eggsy’s head

Harry stared at him a long time, despite his insistence that he couldn’t reschedule. Eggsy watched him swallow hard before speaking again.

“Meet me in my office later today, there’s something I want to ask you,” Harry said, and then he glanced at his watch, bent to give Eggsy a quick kiss on forehead, and left.

Eggsy got very little accomplished that day after he dragged himself out of bed and into work, watching the hours tick slowly by. He burned out some of his pent up energy by having a round at the punching bag, and he tried his best to sit still and turn in his paperwork. His mind kept drifting back to that morning, Harry looking as sharp as ever illuminated by the early dawn, and of what he knew was in the bedside drawer. Eggsy didn’t have the courage to peek inside after Harry had left, but every time he thought about it he had to smother his urge to smile. Finally he got a message from Harry and he quickly made his way to Harry’s office.

“Sit down, please,” Harry said quietly after Eggsy had closed the door. He was wearing a carefully blank expression, and Eggsy’s training prevented him from fidgeting, but it was a near thing.

“What’s up Harry?” Eggsy asked once he was seated in the chair opposite Harry.

“I wanted to ask you a question,” Harry said, and Eggsy saw something incredibly vulnerable flash in Harry’s eye before he hid it behind that mask again. Harry continued, “I’ve been meaning to ask you for some time now, but something always gets in the way and then I start second-guessing, but I can’t put it off any longer - I need to know.”

Eggsy was frozen, scarcely breathing, something warm bursting in his chest even as something cold unfurled in his gut. He opened his mouth a few times soundlessly before he remembered how to form words.

“Ask away,” Eggsy managed to say, and Harry paused for a long time. He looked at Eggsy steadily, his face still so smooth and unreadable that it was driving Eggsy crazy. One of Harry’s hands hovered over the handle of his desk drawer, as if wanting to retrieve something. Eggsy’s heart was in his throat as he waited for Harry to speak again.

“Will you tell me why you killed Agent Pellinore?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading to the end of this chapter, or at least scrolling to the end! Let me know what you think!
> 
> Explanation on Mordred and Morgana: this will come up in more detail when I create an appendix for all this information, but one of the rules in the Camlann Protocols is that only the primary Mordred and Morgana know each other’s identities. That’s why in the previous chapter, Eggsy didn’t know Evelyn until later, and why in this one Aaron had no idea which agent was the second Mordred. 
> 
> Bedivere is the woman from Spain mentioned in the previous chapter. She and Eggsy have a brief exchange in Spanish while she is training to be the second Mordred, and Eggsy tells her to make friends so that she knows who to shoot later, basically. 
> 
> Bedivere: “¡Joder!” - Fuck! 
> 
> Eggsy: “Lo siento, Bedivere. La vida de Mordred es una vida muy solitaria y amarga.” - I’m sorry, Bedivere. Mordred’s life is a very lonely and bitter one. (I suppose, literally, ‘the life of Mordred is a life very lonely and bitter’)
> 
> It is implied in the Tinsel Incident that Harry uses the tinsel to somehow get the measurement for Eggsy’s ring size. I don’t exactly know how that works, but I’m not as talented as Harry Hart. 
> 
> Inspiration for Mr. Denver and Parachute taken from my own dogs, and while they don’t interrupt my (non-existent and rather unwanted) love life, they do choose inconvenient times to decide they need to be let out. 
> 
> Timeline (and you know what, it is actually the condensed version):  
> 22 June, 2014: Harry gets shot outside the church in Kentucky, to be rescued by Statesmen  
> 19 June, 2015: Poppy launches missiles at Kingsman, the world gets saved at the cost of dear friends, and then Harry and Eggsy head home to rebuild (opening of chapter one).  
> 08 July, 2015: Morgana makes contact, Harry sees Eggsy with Merlin’s profile pulled up in the panic room.  
> 13 February, 2016: Kingsman Tailor shop reopens on Savile Row, country manor nearly complete, selection of new agents.  
> 10 March, 2016: Harry and Eggsy finally get together!  
> 15 April, 2016: Evelyn Cartwright, newly instated Merlin, is retrained to forget the existence of Morgana and the Camlann Protocols.  
> 21 June, 2016: First Round Table meeting with all agents filled at the table (end of chapter one).  
> 23 August, 2016: Mordred (Eggsy) and Morgana (Aaron) observe Merlin (Evelyn) after her retraining, the second Round Table meeting (opening of chapter two).  
> 11 September, 2016: Eggsy selects Bedivere to become the second Mordred, training follows well into winter  
> 02 January, 2017: Harry and Eggsy spend the day with Daisy, aka the Tinsel Incident  
> 08 March, 2017: Agent Pellinore is killed on a reconnaissance mission in Chile  
> 29 April, 2017: Eggsy completes the honeypot mission, Harry withdraws  
> 12 May, 2017: Harry and Eggsy fight about the honeypot mission  
> 04 June, 2017: Eggsy finds the jewellry box in Harry’s bedside table  
> 14 July, 2017: Eggsy tells Harry about how he and Percival became friends  
> 08 August, 2017: Meeting between Mordred and Morgana  
> 21 August, 2017: Harry asks Eggsy the question (end of chapter two).


End file.
